Letting Go
by Arra
Summary: A vengeful spirit is attacking Kurama's family. But will he be able to protect them and still keep his secrets safe?
1. Prolouge

Letting Go

Letting Go

By Arra Jade

Prologue

"Kazuya…" a soft voice whispered.

Hatanaka Kazuya peered into the darkness around him, the voice seeming to come from all around him. He adjusted his glasses and squinted out at his surroundings.

"Who's there?" he whispered

"Why did you betray me, Otto? Why don't you remember?" a hauntingly familiar figure stepped out of the darkness. Her long brown hair swirled around her in an unfelt breeze and her gray tear filled eyes gazed at him from her too pale face.

"Midori?" He stood shocked. Here stood his wife, his dead wife. But why was she so sad?

"Why have you betrayed me, Kazuya? You promised you would always love me…so why did you turn to _her_?" Guilt and shame washed over him with her words. He had promised to love her forever, and he did. But…

"You died… I mourned for you night and day for years. The only reason I didn't fallow you in death was our son," he choked back a sob at the remembered pain, if he hadn't had Shuichi to take care of… "But I was so lonely and Shiori understood what I had been through. I didn't go out and look for someone else, it just happened. I had to move on, I couldn't spend the rest of my life waiting to die just so I would meet you again."

Midori narrowed her eyes and clenched both her hands into fists. Her eyes turned to cold steel as her mood swung from betrayed to enrage. "You will regret casting me aside Kazuya. I will make sure of it!"

She dissolved back into darkness. But Kazuya could feel her accusing gaze long after she had faded from view.

He bolted upright gasping for breath and covered in cold sweet. It was that same nightmare again. He had been remarried for over a year already, so why had the nightmares started only recently? If he was feeling guilty why hadn't he had them sooner?

"Kazuya? What's wrong?" He turned and looked at his wife. Shiori was so kind and so thoughtful, even when only half awake.

"Nothing dear, go back to sleep." He lay back down with a sigh and slept, without incident, until morning.


	2. Chapter 1

Letting Go

Letting Go

By Arra Jade

Chapter 1

::knock knock knock::

"Come in," Kurama said, not bothering to looked up from his homework as the person walked into his room and closed the door.

"Ano, Niisan if this is a bad time I'll come back later…" Kurama looked at his 'little brother.' He knew something had been bothering Shuichi for a wile but until now the boy had never said anything. He closed his textbook and smiled at him.

"It's all right, what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked. Shuichi shuffled his feet and stared at the ground for several seconds before answering.

"You're going to think I nuts…" he started but trailed off as he looked at the older boy.

"Shu-kun I've seen a lot of strange stuff. Trust me, I won't think you're crazy." He smiled at him and Shuichi smiled shyly back.

"It's about a friend of yours," Kurama sat up straighter in surprise. 

"Which one?" he asked.

"Well… the short one with the spiky hair,"

"Yes. Go on."

"He… he doesn't _feel_ right." A slight feeling of dread permeated Kurama's thoughts. Inari, does Shuichi have high rei-ki? I never thought to check! "I know that sounds dumb but… I get impressions of people sometimes and well… what I felt from him isn't the same as what I feel from most other people." He stopped and looked at his hands.

"Never mind niisan. It's stupid" he turned to go but Kurama put a hand on his arm.

"It's not stupid Shuichi. I believe you." He motioned to the bed. "Sit down and tell me more. Are there any other people who have felt 'different?' Are the impressions always vague or are there images or feelings associated with them?" The younger boy looked at him, slightly shocked and then smiled.

"Wow niisan, you sound like you know what you're talking about. Well most people feel similar to one another and all I can really tell is if they are nice or if they're lying to me and things like that. Not some people, there are some that I can't read at all and there are a few who, even though I sense them, they just don't feel like normal people do. They almost don't feel human…"

"Is there anyone in particular that feel like that to you? Is that what you meant when you said Hiei didn't feel right?" Kurama prodded. It was best to be prepared; he'd have to tell Hiei to shield his youki better from now on.

"Yeah, Hiei and those two girls with funny colored hair, green and blue, and…and," he stopped again.

"What's wrong? Who else is there?"

"Ano…niisan, you don't feel normal either," Shuichi was silent. 

Kurama mentally berated himself. _I should have expected that. _What am I supposed to tell him? That Hiei and Yukina are youkai, Botan's a Reikai ferry-girl and I'm a youko? He's barley acknowledged that he has this power. He's not ready to fully understand what his instincts are telling him.

His little brother looked at him with fear and apprehension, as if he expected Kurama to be mad at him. The fox spirit sighed. He was just about to divert Shuichi by suggesting that he train with Kuwabara or Shizuru when his mother called them both down for dinner.

With a parting "we'll talk about this later," Kurama escaped towards the safety of the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 2

Letting Go

Letting Go

By Arra Jade

Chapter 2

Shiori hummed to herself as she finished preparing dinner. She loved cooking for a family again. It had been nice when it had been just her and Shuichi. But he needed a father and a family atmosphere that she knew she could not have provided for him on her own. 

A sudden chill ran down her back and the eiry feeling of someone staring at her made her turn and look toward the kitchen door.

Shiori starred in shock at the woman outside the kitchen door. She wasn't that surprised by her arrival or the fact that the woman seemed familiar. What frightened her was that she could see the backyard garden through the woman's body. _A ghost?!_ The ghost woman said something that Shiori couldn't quite hear and then put her hands against the window. 

A malicious smirk crossed the spirit's face moments before the glass imploded toward Shiori. She screamed and covered her face from the glass as the force of the blast knocked her off her feet.

Kurama bolted down the stairs at the sound of his mother's scream. He assessed the situation in a split second: his mother was on the ground, wounded and a figure was approaching from the ruined back door. Without thinking he stepped between Shiori and her attacker. The apparition looked at him with a calculating gleam in its eyes.

"Do not interfere, this does not concern one of your kind." She said, her voice only slightly changed by lack of a physical body.

"Be gone evil spirit, you are not wanted nor are you welcome in this house." Kurama replied calmly. He heard his step- father and brother rush into the room. He heard Kazuya gasp but Shuichi's murmured voice was much more disconcerting.

"Kassan?" The ghost broke from her staring contest and gazed at the two newcomers. An almost fond expression touched her face,

"Shuichi…" she whispered, then her eyes rested on Kazuya. An inhuman snarl left her lips.

"Remember: unlike some, I keep my promises." She said, never taking her eyes from his, before disappearing. The threat gone, Kurama turned to his mother, kneeling before her.

"Daijobu kassan?" He asked, extending a hand to pull her to her feet.

"I…I think so," but her voice as well as her body was shaking. Kurama looked at his stepfather, he was pale and his eyes were locked on the spot the ghost had last been. He led his mother past him and had her sit down in the living room. He got the first aid kit from the bathroom and started cleaning the cuts on her arms. They weren't serious but he wanted to make sure none of them got infected. He turned to his step-dad,

"Who was that?" he asked. Kazuya stayed quiet for a moment before replying

"Hatanaka Midori… my dead wife."

The three humans had all gone to bed after that while Kurama had stayed up to clean the kitchen and think. He came to the conclusion that he would take a half-day off and go see what Koenma could tell him about the ghost who had attacked them. 


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kurama walked into the house quietly. His visit to Koenma had not been very helpful. All he had said was that there was an anomaly in Hatanaka Midori's file, and that her spirit not been taken to the Reikai after her death.

"Shuichi?" Kurama stopped and turned to look at his mother. She seemed to be worried about something

."Hai, kassan," she rung her hands and wouldn't look at him. "What is it?"

"I called your office this afternoon and they said you went home sick," she said quietly. "But you came home when you usually do…" she said. It was obvious to Kurama that she wanted to know what was going on, but didn't want to accuse him of any thing. _How to explain this without being too suspicious_, he wondered.

"I went to talk to a friend of mine about what happened yesterday. They know a lot about ghosts and I thought they might be able to help."

"Oh," she said, the tension in her shoulders easing. "What did they say?"

"Nothing helpful, just to calm her so that she could move on." Kurama sighed. Both Kurama and Shiori jumped when someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get it," he said. He opened the door and was only mildly surprised to see Botan smiling at him.

"Hello Kurama-san, Koenma found some more information that I thought you should know." She chirped. Kurama stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

"Did you find out why Midori's spirit attached my mother?" He asked hopefully, The faster they got rid of the ghost the better.

"Well… no. But we did find out something else. It wasn't Hatanaka Midori who you saw last night." Kurama raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know who it was?" It would be just like Koenma to find answers that only confused thing more than they already were.

"Not who, what. Several years ago a low level spirit gaki escaped into the ningenkai. It was so weak that the Reikai didn't even notice until recently."

"You think that this gaki is the creature I saw last night, not Hatanaka Midori?"

"Yes and no. From what we could find out Midori's soul was the first that it…eight." She shivered slightly "It was really weak at that point, it might have... um." She faltered.

"Because it was so weak, it didn't just eat her soul but combined with it." Kurama sighed. This just meant that the creature that was threatening his family was even more dangerous. He'd just have to track it down somehow and take care of it as soon as possible.

"You should tell your kaasan, make sure she knows what you're up against." Botan's comment brought his attention back from his plan making.

"Iie," he said, a little more forcibly than necessary. "You forget Botan. In this day and age, gaki, and even the Reikai, are just myths. What reason would she have to believe me?" _Not that I could ever tell her anyway_, he thought bitterly. _It would bring too many questions._

"She already believes she was attached by a ghost right? I mean you don't have to tell her _everything_," She said, giving him a knowing look. "Just tell all of them about the gaki," she explained. But Kurama still frowned at her.

"Tell my brother that his mother has effectively been turn into a demon? He told me yesterday that he can sense others ki. He has enough to worry about without…" Kurama ground to a halt as he saw Shuichi turn the corner to come into the yard. The younger boy froze as he saw them. Kurama smiled and waved at his little brother, pretending that he didn't notice the hesitance with which he approached them.

"Welcome home, Shu-kun," Kurama said brightly. Giving his little brother a warm smile. "You remember my friend Botan, right?"

"Um…yeah, hi…" he said hesitantly.

"Well I'll see you later Ku…Minamino-kun!" Botan said as she left. Kurama waved till she was out of sight before turning to his little brother, a concerned look on his face.

"Daijobu ka?" he asked.

"h..hai, just…" Shuichi stuttered, looked at his shoes. "She gives me the creeps." Kurama put an arm around him and led him toward the house.

"Don't worry about it. Besides," he said, smiling at him. "I'm sure she wouldn't be offended if she knew. She's probably used to it." Shuichi just looked at him confused but didn't say anything more.


End file.
